The store, on the corner of Corporation Road and Linthorpe Road, occupied a prime position in the town and when it opened its doors in the 1950s, there was a crowd of several hundred shoppers queueing to be amongst the first inside.

Those of us of a certain vintage may well remember BHS, or ‘Home Stores’ as some people referred to it in the early days, had a cafe and was the place you went to for all kinds of goods from a new lamp to kitting the kids out with some new gear. The bus coming in to town stopped right outside its doors when Corporation Road was open to traffic.

One thing the site definitely does have, though, is history and we reckon there are still some of you who will remember what was there before BHS first opened its doors on October 2, 1958.

If we said Big Wesley, would the name ring any bells?

The 'Big Wesley' which occupied the site of the former BHS store (Image: Evening Gazette)

The site started out as the Wesley Central Mission, a giant chapel that once seated as many as 1,500 people, which stood at the crossroads for almost a century until it was demolished in September 1955.

Pictures show an imposing building with ornate brick work and steps up to the front doors and back in 1863, the Big Wesley was built on what was then the outskirts of the town with the town centre being ‘over the border.’

The chapel survived the war and the bombs which destroyed many other parts of the town but eventually, the site was earmarked for a shopping development as the post war Middlesbrough began to take shape.

Linthorpe Road in 1963 looking north towards British Home Stores on the right in the distance. Except for BHS all of this on the right was demolished to create the Cleveland Centre (Image: Evening Gazette)

The BHS store in Middlesbrough pictured in December 2003

In October 1953 it was reported in the Gazette that the chapel had been sold to a mystery buyer - though it was denied at the time.

The last service to be held at the Big Wesley took place on March 27, 1954 for the remaining 205 congregation members. September that year saw the demolition men move in to make way for the new British Home Stores which was later incorporated into the Cleveland Centre.